Factory CEO just accused his VC board advisor of spying for Cognition

Factory CEO Matan Grinberg has accused his VC board advisor, Chris Degnan, of spying for Cognition, the startup's biggest competitor. Grinberg fired Degnan from his role as a board advisor after discovering that the advisor had allegedly shared confidential information with Cognition. Degnan announced his new position at Cognition just two hours after Grinberg fired him.

According to Grinberg, Degnan had initially admitted to having a casual conversation with a Cognition executive but assured Grinberg that he had no interest in working for the competitor. However, Degnan reportedly made it clear on Monday that he had been in ongoing talks with Cognition. Grinberg expressed his concern over the extent of the confidential information Degnan shared with Cognition and how it had affected Factory's product roadmap.

Degnan, who is also a partner at RPT Partners and a go-to-market advisor to startups for Iconiq, did not mention Factory in his post announcing his new job at Cognition. VC giant Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department for partners serving on competitors' boards.